Hello, I am here to cap off this ceremony. Over my four years of high school, I've been exposed to many works of great literature, learned so much about history, politics, and languages, seen great art, and have made steps to set up my path in adulthood. I reflected on the lessons I have learned from different resources, in and out of school, when trying to choose a topic for this speech. I decided to focus on just one lesson. Today, I would like to talk about one of my favorite films. The animated children's movie, "Up." It's highly enjoyable for its goofy humor and cute talking dogs, but it also taught me an important lesson. The character of Ellie is a vivacious spirit that leads a life of unbridled joy and she taught her husband Carl, and me, that "Adventure is Out There!"

Adventure can mean something different to each person. It's defined in the dictionary as something unusual and exciting. These feelings might come from their job for some, learning for others, finding a new hobby, sports, or just letting the road take you. To me, adventure is whenever I take a chance. It might not always work out exactly as I planned but it's still an interesting experience. Adventure can be found every day. For example, it's an adventure for me every time I drive. I have a pretty terrible sense of direction, and the GPS is my best friend. One day, driving back from Portland with two friends, I became too confident and turned off Google Maps thinking I knew where we were headed. That was a big mistake. I knew something had gone terribly wrong when I started seeing signs for Sugarloaf. The panic was nothing a little jamming to some 80s music couldn't help, and the trip ended up being a lot of fun, even though it took us over two hours to get home.

This lesson from "Up" becomes even more real for me on this day, on graduation. This is the start of the rest of our lives and we must remember that adventure is waiting for us, we just have to choose to go after it. Life is going to present us a series of choices from here on out and how we make those choices will define the rest of our lives. Starting now, this is our chance to make the absolute most of those decisions.

One decision I have already made brought me half way around the world. I lived and studied abroad as an exchange student in Ireland for five months. While I was there I got a taste of what is possible. I was able to travel around by myself, to make decisions for myself, and choose how little or how many chances I said yes to. There were times I felt so nervous that I would stop myself from trying something new, and I regret that every day. But it got me to the place I am today. Hopefully it will be the first of many new adventures for me. This experience really taught me that if I want to, I can do anything. There are no limits until you set them.

In the movie "Up," after Ellie passes away, Carl remembers her lesson that adventure is out there. Carl chooses to adventure by flying their home to a waterfall in South America with a giant bunch of balloons. While this might not be scientifically possible, you get the point. The sky's the limit. That's the true beauty of adventure, though at times it may be scary and and perilous, it will be something you can look back on and say I did that.

Starting today we get to make our decisions for ourselves. There will be certain challenges standing in the way, sometimes it will seem like the world is against us, but always remember that we have the choice to make a change in our lives and go down a new path.

The Valedictorian is asked to give a Farewell Address, but I don't want to simply wish you to farewell, I want you to fare greatly, fare happily, fare amazingly. Class of 2016, go out and find your passion in life and follow it. And, please, always remember that adventure is out there, choose to go find it.